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The working-week diet: are you on it and how can you get off?

Try our nutritionist's expert tips to break the unhealthy eating cycle of healthy weeks and binge weekends that thwarts weight loss

If you eat healthily all day but treat yourself in the evening and at weekends then you may unknowingly be on the 'working-week diet'.

And it could be the reason you don't feel the benefits of your 9-5 efforts. We asked nutritionist and women's health expert Marilyn Glenville, author of Fat Around the Middle, how to break the cycle of weekday halos and weekend binges.

"It's so common," she tells us. "It’s almost like as a reward for all your hard work - but you go and ruin it with what you think is a harmless treat.

"And it's becoming harder and harder to manage because people will go overboard on Friday and Saturday nights. By the time you've recovered from the weekend, the next one's already arrived and you're liver has to deal with takeaways, processed foods, sugars and all that alcohol over again.

"It doesn't give your body, and especially your liver, time to do it's normal tasks such as breaking down hormones. It has to deal with breaking down the toxins such as alcohol, first."


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Evenings

There are a few things you can do to combat the temptation in the evening, Marilyn tells us.

"The first thing is to plan ahead. Make sure you've got the ingredients you need in the cupboard and if you know you're going to be short of time buy in time-saving products.

"Think frozen or pre-chopped veg. If you've already made the decision, it makes it easier when you get home to just get on with it instead of phoning for a takeaway."

"The second thing, and this is so important for women, is to consciously have a few alcohol-free days each week. We don’t metabolise alcohol as well as men and we need to give our livers the chance to do their day job."

"Thirdly, make your ritual healthier. For many people, it's the ritual of sitting down with a glass of wine that tells them that the day is over and they can relax. So to begin with, try a longer drink – a white wine spritzer, say – that'll give you the same number of glasses you're used to but is healthier.

"Or, and it may not have the same appeal initially, but try a glass of sparkling red grape juice or fizzy apple or something that you enjoy instead of wine.

"You'll still get the message that this is your reward time for the day but it won't do you so much harm."

"Next, make sure you really are eating well, and enough, during the day. If you must have a treat, better to get it in as earlier in the day so you have more time to burn off the calories.

"Eat little and often and try to avoid a huge gap between eating your healthy lunch and dinner time. If you're ravenous by the time you get home, you're more likely to make a bad food choice."


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Alternatives

"A stir fry is a brilliant, fast alternative to a takeaway in the evening. Using pre-chopped veg speeds it up even more.

"Or a piece of grilled salmon is really quick and you can have that with a stir fry or with frozen veg, which only take a few minutes to steam."

Weekends

"People think that they can offset that blowout at the weekend by eating well for five days but it really doesn't," Marilyn warns.

"This lifestyle plays havoc with the health, especially the alcohol.

"We start putting in junk food, sugary foods, fats, refined carbs all in a very short space of time so it's no wonder we can't lose weight. Our liver gets no time to recuperate before the next onslaught. I see women who take a good couple of days in the week to get over the weekend and really we all need a wakeup call."

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"If you are going out drinking, try spirits - but as long drinks. They're not as bad for your blood sugar as wine. Beer is the biggest culprit.

'It's also vital to eat before you go out. Something like an omelet is ideal - you’ve got fat and protein in there and it buffers some of the effects of alcohol.

"And when it comes to weekend treats, always choose the very best ingredients available. If you're going to have chocolate, go for dark, organic. In general, look for foods with the fewest ingredients possible.


Changing your mindset

"The main thing is to try and stop thinking of food as a reward. It's hard because we're conditioned to think that way as children. But it's not logical.

"We think 'oh I've been to the gym, I can have a treat'. But just one cappuccino takes 45 minutes to burn off so it's really not logical thinking.

"Get into the habit of rewarding yourself with something else other than food – having a massage or manicure, going out to the cinema, or buying a lipstick or flowers."


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"But it does require a big of a change in mindset to think about how we reward ourselves in a way that's healthier and better in the long term. It won't happen overnight.

"To begin with, make the choice a different one. So if you're craving something sweet, don't try and go cold turkey, instead go for something like sugar-free jam on good quality, wholewheat toast, rather than a chocolate bar.

"A good snack, especially if you really can't leave the fridge alone in the evening is a small portion of natural yoghurt with berries and even a drizzle of maple syrup. Fruit yoghurts contain a shocking amount of sugar but doing it this way means you control what goes in."

Here's to planning a healthier weekend this week! Share your tips for beating the weekend binge on Twitter.


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